MEERUT: Ten people were arrested while they were trafficking a consignment of Rs 1 crore in demonetised notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 from Ghaziabad's Kavi Nagar on Monday night. Officials claim this recovery could just be the tip of the iceberg. "During investigation, it has come up that a huge consignment of Rs 200 crore in demonetized notes from west UP is being sent to Nepal in a phased manner," Akash Tomar, SP (city) Ghaziabad, told TOI.This haul is one of close to half-a-dozen seizures of consignment of demonetised currencies across the state in the past six months. In one of the biggest seizures post demonetisation, Rs 97 crore in old currency were recovered by Kanpur police in January this year.Another Rs 25 crore were seized from a farm owned by a prominent builder at Raj Kamal Enclave in Meerut in December last year.In March this year, Rs 1.11 crore were recovered from five people, including three Nepalese, in Basti, a district close to Nepal border in east UP.Police had then hinted at hoarders hiring middlemen to get currencies exchanged in Nepal.Last week, another consignment of Rs 50 lakh, on its way to Nepal, was recovered and three people were arrested in Lucknow. During investigation, a middleman had claimed that he is promised by black money hoarders a return of Rs 15-20 lakh in new currency for shifting Rs 1 crore to Nepal.Demonetisation, still caught in a bureaucratic red-tapism in the Himalayan country, offers hope to these hoarders.Nepal and India have yet to agree on how to exchange old Indian bank notes estimated to be worth $146 million held by individuals and informal sectors after India's shock announcement in 2016 to ban 500 and 1,000 rupee bills, said a Reuters report. As of April, it had risen to Rs 949 crore in Indian currency."Post demonetisation, we had requested Reserve bank of India to keep a limit of Rs 25,000 for Nepalese individuals wanting to exchange their demonetised currency. Despite several requests, we are yet to hear from them," Narayan Paudel, spokesperson for Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), told TOI.The stalemate continues as the Indian side is willing to keep the cap of exchange on Rs 4,500 per persons against Rs 25,000. According to the exiting treaty, Nepalese citizens can possess an amount of Rs 25,000 in Indian notes.Nepalese law enforcing agencies claim they have been keeping a tab on locals with excess of demonetised currency. "On several instances, we caught hold of locals from border areas with demonetised currencies and handed them over to revenue officials for further investigation," Shailendra Thapa Kshetri, SSP (police headquarters) in Kathmandu, told TOI.In April this year, two Nepalese were arrested with Rs 49 lakh in demonetised notes from Lazimpat in Kathmandu. The local police had then claimed that the touts and middlemen have been exchanging demonetised notes by duping locals with claims that the ban on the currencies will be lifted in near future.Meanwhile, Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, in May this year, had urged PM Narendra Modi to allow exchange of demonetised high-value Indian currency notes held by Nepal's banks and general public at the earliest.In March, finance minister Arun Jaitley had announced that Nepal would soon get exchange facilities for the demonetised high-value Indian currency notes to ease difficulties faced by Nepalese citizens.Jaitley, who was on a visit to Nepal, had said the NRB and the Reserve Bank of India would set a modality for the exchange of demonetised currency notes soon and settle the related issues.

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